TMSO Special Concert in Osaka
Venue: Festival Hall Venue Info
[50th Anniversary of Shostakovich’s death]
Kazushi ONO, Conductor
Alena BAEVA, Violin
Kazushi ONO (Music Director)
Kazushi Ono is the definitive musical citizen of the world, having been born in Tokyo, studied in Munich and forged his early career in Zagreb, Karlsruhe and Tokyo. This variety of influences has shaped an inquiring and profound musical intellect and an ability to communicate meaning across languages and cultures, leading to longstanding relationships around the world.
Ono trained in Europe under Wolfgang Sawallisch and came to public attention winning first prize in the 1987 Toscanini Competition. Since his first appointment at Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1992 he has held continuous positions, including at Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Karlsruhe Opera, La Monnaie, Opéra National de Lyon, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, and currently, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, New National Theatre Tokyo and Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra.
A favourite of orchestral players, he has lasting friendships with orchestras around the world and regularly guest conducts groups such as London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
His passion and curiosity for repertoire takes him in different directions – to the standard classics but also to new music. He often commissions works and has collaborated several times with Mark-Anthony Turnage, including on Silent Cities, Hibiki (which won a Royal Philharmonic Society award) and Time Flies, which was originally commissioned for the 2020 Tokyo Olympiad. Recent commissions at NNTT include Asters by Akira Nishimura and Dai Fujikura’s A Dream of Armageddon. His programming there also includes Baroque, 20th-century and bel canto masterpieces.
In Europe he conducted the world premieres of Toshio Hosokawa’s Hanjyo in Aix-en-Provence, Arnulf Hermann’s Der Mieter at Oper Frankfurt and Kaija Saariaho’s Emilie at Opéra de Lyon, as well as new productions of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole and L’Enfant et les sortilèges at Glyndebourne and Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher at Opéra de Lyon. He has worked closely with boundary-breaking directors such as Dmitri Tcherniakov, Romeo Castellucci, Pierre Audi, William Kentridge and Mariusz Treliński
Ono is a vocal advocate for the role of culture in all our lives. During his time in Lyon he took part in a programme bringing opera to prisons and at TMSO he leads the inclusive SaLaD Music Festival, as well as working with community organisations for people with disabilities. In his new role in Brussels he will be part of an integration scheme for refugees. During the initial stages of the pandemic, he led ground-breaking research into the transmission of particles and the use of ventilation that meant that orchestras could get back to playing for audiences safely.
In 2017 he was awarded ‘Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ by French cultural minister Françoise Nyssen, adding to the prestigious Asahi Prize in January 2015, for his contribution to the development and progress of Japanese society.
https://www.kazushiono.com/
Ono trained in Europe under Wolfgang Sawallisch and came to public attention winning first prize in the 1987 Toscanini Competition. Since his first appointment at Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1992 he has held continuous positions, including at Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Karlsruhe Opera, La Monnaie, Opéra National de Lyon, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, and currently, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, New National Theatre Tokyo and Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra.
A favourite of orchestral players, he has lasting friendships with orchestras around the world and regularly guest conducts groups such as London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
His passion and curiosity for repertoire takes him in different directions – to the standard classics but also to new music. He often commissions works and has collaborated several times with Mark-Anthony Turnage, including on Silent Cities, Hibiki (which won a Royal Philharmonic Society award) and Time Flies, which was originally commissioned for the 2020 Tokyo Olympiad. Recent commissions at NNTT include Asters by Akira Nishimura and Dai Fujikura’s A Dream of Armageddon. His programming there also includes Baroque, 20th-century and bel canto masterpieces.
In Europe he conducted the world premieres of Toshio Hosokawa’s Hanjyo in Aix-en-Provence, Arnulf Hermann’s Der Mieter at Oper Frankfurt and Kaija Saariaho’s Emilie at Opéra de Lyon, as well as new productions of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole and L’Enfant et les sortilèges at Glyndebourne and Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher at Opéra de Lyon. He has worked closely with boundary-breaking directors such as Dmitri Tcherniakov, Romeo Castellucci, Pierre Audi, William Kentridge and Mariusz Treliński
Ono is a vocal advocate for the role of culture in all our lives. During his time in Lyon he took part in a programme bringing opera to prisons and at TMSO he leads the inclusive SaLaD Music Festival, as well as working with community organisations for people with disabilities. In his new role in Brussels he will be part of an integration scheme for refugees. During the initial stages of the pandemic, he led ground-breaking research into the transmission of particles and the use of ventilation that meant that orchestras could get back to playing for audiences safely.
In 2017 he was awarded ‘Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ by French cultural minister Françoise Nyssen, adding to the prestigious Asahi Prize in January 2015, for his contribution to the development and progress of Japanese society.
https://www.kazushiono.com/
Alena BAEVA (Violin)
Described as “a magnetic presence” and “a constantly fascinating sound technician” (New York Classical Review), violinist Alena Baeva is considered one of the most exciting, versatile, and captivating soloists active on the world stage today, working with leading conductors including Gustavo Gimeno, Paavo Järvi, Marek Janowski, Vladimir Jurowski, Tomáš Netopil and Riccardo Minasi.
Possessing a passionate musical curiosity, Baeva holds an already vast and rapidly expanding active repertoire, including over fifty violin concerti. She is a champion of lesser-known works alongside the more mainstream violin literature, with recent performances promoting such composers as Bacewicz, Karaev, Karłowicz, and Silvestrov.
Baeva’s career as an international soloist of the highest renown has grown at an extraordinary pace over recent seasons, performing with orchestras including New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln and Göteborgs Symfoniker. She enjoys a long-standing and rewarding relationship with the Orchestra of the XVIII Century, performing and recording a variety of repertoire on period instruments.
Chamber music holds a particularly special place in her musical life, where she enjoys collaborations with such esteemed artists as Yuri Bashmet, Daishin Kashimoto, Misha Maisky, Jean-Guihen Queyras, and the Belcea Quartet. Her regular sonata partner is the celebrated Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko, with whom she has a dedicated musical partnership of more than a decade.
Baeva records exclusively for leading label Alpha Classics, and the first project of her multi-disc deal with the label, Fantasy with Vaydm Kholodenko, was released in February 2024.
Baeva’s wider discography is extensive and reflects the impressive breadth of her repertoire. Recordings include Wieniawski Violin Concerto No.2 (with Orchestra of the XVIII Century, 2021); the Karłowicz Violin Concerto (with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 2018); and the Schumann Violin Concerto and original (1844) version of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto (for Melodiya Records, 2020).
Born in Kyrgyzstan with Slavic-Tatar ancestry, Baeva took her first violin lessons at the age of five under renowned pedagogue Olga Danilova in Kazakhstan before studying with Professor Eduard Grach in Russia, and also took lessons with Mstislav Rostropovich, Boris Garlitsky, and Shlomo Mintz. Naturalised Luxembourgisch, Alena Baeva resides in Luxemburg with her husband and three children.
At only 16 years of age, Baeva won the Grand Prix at the 12th International Henryk Wieniawski Competition (2001), as well as the Prize for Best Performance of a Contemporary Work. Following this, she went on to take the Grand Prix at the Moscow International Niccolò Paganini Competition (2004), including a Special Prize allowing her to perform on the 1723 Wieniawski Stradivari for one year, and was awarded both the Gold Medal and the Audience Prize at the Sendai International Violin Competition (2007).
Alena Baeva plays on the “ex-William Kroll” Guarneri del Gesù of 1738 – on generous loan from an anonymous patron, with the kind assistance of J&A Beares.
photo ©Andrej Grilc
Possessing a passionate musical curiosity, Baeva holds an already vast and rapidly expanding active repertoire, including over fifty violin concerti. She is a champion of lesser-known works alongside the more mainstream violin literature, with recent performances promoting such composers as Bacewicz, Karaev, Karłowicz, and Silvestrov.
Baeva’s career as an international soloist of the highest renown has grown at an extraordinary pace over recent seasons, performing with orchestras including New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln and Göteborgs Symfoniker. She enjoys a long-standing and rewarding relationship with the Orchestra of the XVIII Century, performing and recording a variety of repertoire on period instruments.
Chamber music holds a particularly special place in her musical life, where she enjoys collaborations with such esteemed artists as Yuri Bashmet, Daishin Kashimoto, Misha Maisky, Jean-Guihen Queyras, and the Belcea Quartet. Her regular sonata partner is the celebrated Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko, with whom she has a dedicated musical partnership of more than a decade.
Baeva records exclusively for leading label Alpha Classics, and the first project of her multi-disc deal with the label, Fantasy with Vaydm Kholodenko, was released in February 2024.
Baeva’s wider discography is extensive and reflects the impressive breadth of her repertoire. Recordings include Wieniawski Violin Concerto No.2 (with Orchestra of the XVIII Century, 2021); the Karłowicz Violin Concerto (with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 2018); and the Schumann Violin Concerto and original (1844) version of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto (for Melodiya Records, 2020).
Born in Kyrgyzstan with Slavic-Tatar ancestry, Baeva took her first violin lessons at the age of five under renowned pedagogue Olga Danilova in Kazakhstan before studying with Professor Eduard Grach in Russia, and also took lessons with Mstislav Rostropovich, Boris Garlitsky, and Shlomo Mintz. Naturalised Luxembourgisch, Alena Baeva resides in Luxemburg with her husband and three children.
At only 16 years of age, Baeva won the Grand Prix at the 12th International Henryk Wieniawski Competition (2001), as well as the Prize for Best Performance of a Contemporary Work. Following this, she went on to take the Grand Prix at the Moscow International Niccolò Paganini Competition (2004), including a Special Prize allowing her to perform on the 1723 Wieniawski Stradivari for one year, and was awarded both the Gold Medal and the Audience Prize at the Sendai International Violin Competition (2007).
Alena Baeva plays on the “ex-William Kroll” Guarneri del Gesù of 1738 – on generous loan from an anonymous patron, with the kind assistance of J&A Beares.
photo ©Andrej Grilc